Tag: Pearlesant White Metallic

Sometimes, where a car is sold or turns up for sale is baffling to me. Sometime in 1991, a person walked into an Audi dealer in Florida. Now, considering that Audi only sold 12,283 cars in 1991 that in and of itself was something of a minor miracle. 1991 was the worst year in Audi’s sales history outside of 1970 when the brand was reintroduced. To put it in an even bigger prospective, Audi sold more 100 models in 1971 than it sold total cars in 1991 – by nearly 50%. So, this person had walked by the Mercedes-Benz and BMW dealers – in Florida, mind you – and popped into an Audi dealer. Then, they selected a 90 quattro 20V. Now, starting in 1990 Audi had upped the game with the 7A 20V motor in the 90 quattro, and in terms of horsepower it was at least on par with Mercedes-Benz and BMW. But it was heavy and slower than the competition thanks to the all-wheel drive quattro drivetrain, so these 90s – and the rest of the quattros sold – were mostly relegated to Northern and Mid-Western states. And the buyer paid a steep price in 1991; around $27,000 before options. What was even crazier was that they then opted for the sport package and heated sport seats, as well as Pearlescant White Metallic paint. In short, this was the absolute most expensive Audi 90 you could buy in 1991. Yet, here it is, with low miles and in essentially perfect condition thanks to being stuck in Florida its entire life:

Recently, I saw a picture of the new Volvo V90. It’s a handsome and striking design, wide, low and some rakish angles – especially in the rear. Where Volvos have traditionally been pretty square, this one reminded me in many ways of another large wagon, but one from 30 years ago – the Audi Type 44 Avant. Pardon the pun, but it was pretty avant garde for the time; much more aerodynamic and futuristic looking than its contemporaries, arguably it still doesn’t look particularly old today. Okay, you can point out some of the 80s styling elements – large black rubber moldings surround the car, the wheels look tiny in comparison to the modern 19″ or 20″ wheels that seemingly everything wears, and there are no fancy LED strips and clear taillights. But this uncluttered design still looks great and stands apart from most other 1980s products. While the Type 44 range was topped by the 1991 200 20V model that most lust after, a clean earlier 5000 example like this is neat to see:

Up through 1995, Audi really liked to do things differently. Since then, they have perhaps become a bit more mainstream – but there are plenty of examples of their unconventional engineering before then. It was even a bit of a joke, with some enthusiasts lovingly (or not so much) using the Audi name for the acronym “Always Unusual Designs Incorporated”. One of my favorite unusual Audi stories, though, must by the development of the Audi V8 race car. Audi looked at what Mercedes-Benz and BMW did in the DTM and said “Sure, we can do that. But, we’ll use our full sized luxury-oriented car”. Then, to add insult to injury, they left the wood trim in the race cars as a reminder that this was their top-tier car. And, of course, you’d assume it would lose to the self-proclaimed most successful race car ever made, the E30 M3. But, it didn’t. It won the championship in both 1990 and 1991. Ever since then, I’ve had a bit of a love affair with the Audi V8 quattro, if for no other reason than it was not the normal choice. Rare to see even when new and quite expensive, nearly all of the 3,868 imported were automatics – a new and important development for bringing Audi to a larger market. But for 72 of those cars, the experience was quite different:

After lingering and reappearing for some time at a nearly $7,000 asking price, the seller of this “beater” S6 has finally compromised and the car is now offered at no reserve. Our readers previously suggested it was a $3,500 car – bidding is currently around $3,000 with two days to go. How much will this winter weapon end up at?

The below post originally appeared on our site September 15, 2014:

My first car was an Audi 4000CS quattro. It was a wonderful car; for the most part, outside some serious fanboys no one knew what it was. That was in part because in the early 1990s Audi nearly was removed from the U.S. market thanks to some bad P.R. that has been pretty well documented. However, that wasn’t all – if you looked at the 4000CS quattro or its successors on paper, they weren’t very appealing to sporting drivers or to luxury-oriented buyers. BMW and Mercedes-Benz ruled those small executive markets, and the robust but semi-anemic 2.2 inline-5 coupled with a relatively spartan interior had a hard time competing with the other German marques. On top of that, if you wanted a performance model from the Volkswagen Audi group, The Volkswagen Jetta GLi offered many of the same accoutrements as the 4000 quattro – plus more performance – for much less money, and looked pretty similar in many ways. You had to specifically want the all-wheel drive system to select the 4000 quattro, and that meant slow sales. In the 1980s, a loaded Audi 4000 would cost you nearly $21,000 – the equivalent of around $46,000 today. For reference, that amount very nearly gets you into a brand new S4 today – and I assure you, the S4 is in nearly every way a much more impressive car.

To solve this problem in the 90 range, Audi went even more upscale. Audi offered a more luxurious cabin, full of wood accents, power accessories and even more sound-deadening material. The 90 was more aerodynamic, meaning that the heavy wind noise associated with the brick-on-brick B2 design was lessened. The 90 also introduced innovative safety measures, such as the seatbelt pretension PROCON-10 system and anti-lock brakes which previously had been considered superfluous on all-wheel drive cars by Audi.…

Why am I doing an Audi Cabriolet post on Christmas Eve? Well, mostly because it’s a model that we generally ignore. I’m not even sure why – the B4 Audi may not be the most attractive Audi model ever, but I’ve always found the Cabriolet to be the best looking of the bunch that came to the U.S. The sleek lines of the 3/4 view are especially pleasing. With refined good looks and a relatively bullet-proof drivetrain, they should be a common choice for those looking for a cabriolet. Couple that with typical ’90s low residual value for nearly all of the Audi lineup, and you’d think everyone looking for a occasional drop-top would be snapping these up. But they’re not. Perhaps it’s worry about unreliability of older Audis or perhaps it’s the lack of sport offered by the package, but the result is that if you like these 2-door drop top Audis, you can get a pretty good deal on one today:

Update 11/7/2014 – the seller of this pristine A8L contacted us to let us know one of the three issues – the backordered O2 sensor from Audi – arrived and has been installed, correcting one of the very few flaws on this stunning car. Despite the $500 bill, the seller price has remained the same. Don’t you wish all sellers were like this one?

Earlier today I wrote up a brace of Audi S4s – undoubtedly, one of the best performance values going in classic German motoring today. However, if you move forward a generation, there’s a similar stunning value in the S4’s big brother – the Audi A8. Available in three configurations, the D2 chassis pioneered some new technology for Audi – the Aluminum Space Frame which stiffened the structure and kept weight down. The A8 was also completely new outside; while it’s easy to point towards it as looking like a big A4, the reality is the opposite – the Audi space frame concept car actually predated the B5 A4 chassis and the first iterations of the D2 were near exact copies of the show car. First available in front drive 3.7 V8 configuration and 4.2 quattro, the D2 A8 was initially offered only in short wheel base before 2000. Styling was revised in 2000, which also saw the U.S. introduction of both the sport-oriented S8 model (2001) and ultra-luxury oriented A8L. Equipped with special wheels and fully optioned out, these cars were anything but subtle – commanding serious presence on the road. But that weighty look didn’t necessarily translate to physical weight; despite the long wheel base and luxury bias, the A8L hit the scales only around a hundred pounds heavier than the C4 S4/S6.…

I’ve made no excuses about my personal favoritism towards the Audi S8, but I think it’s reasonably justified. The E55 v 500E post from the other day reminded me why; sure, the E55 is a pretty cool car, but as one of the comments noted it looks a bit like a Kia. Park it next to a S8 and that’s brought into even starker contrast. Audi just got it right; the right amount of sport, a great engine and soundtrack, all-wheel drive and a gorgeous and luxurious interior. Today I’ve got three more rare-to-see colors; Avus Pearl, Andorra Red and Pearlesant White. Let’s look at my favorite first:

About this time last year, a clean “Ersatz” S2 replica popped up on Quattroworld. With a tremendous amount of work completed, a collection of rare parts and very good condition, it was understandable why the asking price was a high $18,000. However, after 10 months and 3,000 miles, the new owner has chosen to list the car for sale. Condition is about the same as last year but it doesn’t appear that the new owner has sorted the air condition issue. As I said in the original article below and illustrated in my recent 20V Turbo 10K edition, I feel the market for these replica S2s is really about to fall apart. While it won’t be easy to import an original car, it will be possible and substantially cheaper than the asking price. Given the option, as clean as this car is I’d still sport for a real one for less money. How about you?

Audi fans are an interesting bunch. To be fair, I think that most devoted followers of a specific brand in any circumstance are an interesting bunch, but knowing the Audi folks a bit I’m closer to the understanding. What I find interesting is that there’s such a schism between the model fans and who they attract. Each has a devoted following, and each of those groups is a microcosm in and of itself. Take my model group, for example – the Type 85. In that model group, there are the three major notables: the 4000 quattro, the Coupe GT, and of course the Quattro. Then within each of those subsets, there are further fan specializations; 84 4000S quattro versus the 85-87; early GT versus 85-87 and then the “87.5” crew; and of course each one of the model years of the Quattro has its followers. As with the GT, Audi fans have come to naming half model years to differentiate the upgrades; 87.5 GTs received a revised engine and brakes along with some other minor details, but then there are “95.5” S6s and “2001.5” S4s; heck, there are even “2005.5” S4s. Fans become semi-obsessed with differentiating each of the subset models and what makes them special. Today, though, seeing any of these cars in great shape is special to me – and these three each have their special fan base. Thanks to our reader John, here’s a roundup of three fan favorites that are sure to make some smile:

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